The EARTH story - October 14, 1372

The next day, the clerics go to work raising and resurrecting the dead.

Drinor, Equinox, Aron and Devlin are all safely revived, though Laurie had to use her rod of resurrection on Equinox and Aron, as their bodies were not intact (all you had to go from was a bit of scorched toe from one of Aron's shoes, for the monk).

Drinor, Equinox, Aron and Devlin all return to life to find themselves back in Kelar's tent.

The clerics Al, Sharone and Laurie are huddled over them.

Nearby stand your companions. Many are still scarred and wounded.

The two swords which the slaadi fought with, along with a large, ornate key, lie on a table. Jon stands over them, eying them with interest and rubbing his hands.

"Why does Equinox smell of beer?" asks Leslie, wrinkling her nose.

Jon comments, "That's great a torch sword...we will never loose him now.."

Drinor chuckles, partly at Vardui and partly in disbelief at his good fortune. He then takes a deep breath, and lets it out as an ear-splitting cry of victory.

"Tyr be praised, a holy blade! I claim this sword in the name of Tyr One-Handed, Binder of Fenris, Tyr the Mighty, Tyr the Brave, Tyr the Just!"

The paladin draws his flame tongue broadsword with his free hand, laying it on the table next to the second slaad's broadsword. "Anyone who wants this flaming sword is welcome to it."

He wanders around the tent admiring the sword with glee, muttering and giggling to himself a little.

"Amen," says Laurie with a smile. "Tyr does favour you."

"I was in Asgard and I SAW THOR!!!" Equinox announces with a proud smile on his face.

"I smell of beer because I just drank beer with Thor," says Equinox with a broad smile to Leslie. "Thor also told me who hid the items, who has the Sceptre right now and what we are supposed to do with the Sword and the Robe!"

"Well, then, tell us, Equinox!" says Mikodin excitedly.

Jon says, "Well glad to see you make it through this, Mikodin, and thanks for
thinking of me when everybody else was doing other things...trouble does
seem to find us..."

"You lucky bastard!" Al laments. "How was it?" he asks eagerly. "Tell us, tell us, did he say anything about me? Is he still pissed at me?" he inquires.

"Oh, Al, I am sorry," says Equinox, "I did not ask him about you.  I asked him about our question and he told that the Emperor of Saltar now possesses the Sceptre.  He also told me, or I guess, us, to retrieve the Sword and Robe from Hecate's hiding places and give them to the Emperor of Saltar."

"That is ok," Al replies with a crestfallen face. "I hope to speak to him soon, will this key lead us to him?" he asks.

"I hope so," Equinox replies, "and Al, I really do apologize. I am very sorry."

"Its ok, Brother E," he says as he slaps Equinox on the left shoulder. "We will have time to talk soon, I hope," he says with a smile as he plays with the key, examining it closely.

He then picks up the other sword and swings it a few times to test its weight. Afterwards, he examines the blade for anything of interest.

The broadsword seems to be very heavy, slow, and awkward to use. But you recall that the slaad never missed with it.

The cavalier puts the blade back on the table, preferring the fast and quick ease of Claw.

"I too saw my god Tyr," says a somewhat solemn Aron. "And he spoke to me."

"And what did Tyr tell you?" Equinox inquires.

"He said that when we have the sword that we seek, we must travel east to a ruined city of great evil where we will find the robe.  We must then deliver the robe and sword to the emperor."

Mikodin, so excited that he thought Equinox was speaking, when, in fact, it was Aron speaking, finishes healing himself and says, "But do we have the sword we seek?  And where is a 'ruined city of great evil'?"

"I do not think that holy avenger is the sword you seek," replies Goodgulf, "The sword you seek was over a bridge, remember?"

Mikodin, finally coming to his senses after the slaadi battle, replies, "I didn't think we had found it.  That would be too easy."

He sighs, then says, "I guess we keep looking.  At least we have one happy Paladin with us, now."

"Thor said that the Emperor of Saltar now possesses the Sceptre, that Hecate hid all the items, that we were to retrieve the Sword and the Robe from their hiding places and give them to the Emperor of Saltar," says Equinox, "and then Thor dumped his beer on my head and sent me back here!" Equinox concludes with a big smile.

The cleric intones, "Great Thor, allow your servant to see the magic of what items are here !" as he casts Detect Magic and looks over the swords and key.

They are all magic.

"A shame Occa is not here, he is quite good at identifying magic items," he says to no one in particular. "Can anyone else cast that spell?"

Having helped with the dead, Sharone now moves around the wounded tending their wounds.

"So let's go and use that key that you guys found.  By the way, what happened after I got toasted?"

Tully examines the other sword with his bardic ability. He says. "I need to train. Can we take the time?"

He learns nothing of the blade.

"It looks like you have found the key the bridge, indeed," says Leslie. "Before we try it out, does anyone else need to train?"

Jon says, "No I don't need to train but I could do with some time off. But shouldn't we get the real sword first, then have a break? But I will go with the majority view."

"Oh yeah," Beth says, flexing her knuckles.  "I feel a big bout of training coming on.  My head is bursting, ready to jump to the next quantum of sorcery.  I almost can't wait!"

"This will take money; of course.  Do we have any outstanding treasure that needs to be divided up?  I'll want to take my share."

"Is there any chance we could make a teleport trip to Sandas?  Is anybody here willing and able to do that?  I'd like to visit my folks as well.  It's been a long time since my mom has been able to nag me about not being married, and I'm afraid that she might start to show some withdrawal symptoms.  Plus, we should probably check in with Ray Jay, and tell her... er, him about Equinox's dream.  I could train while there, unless there's somebody here just aching to help me along."

"I could train you," offers Goodgulf. "I could transport you to Sandas as well."

"I would be much obliged," Beth says to Goodgulf.  "Thank you!"

Tully says, "Know of any bardic guilds there? Or here for that matter?"

Goodgulf shakes his head.

Jon says, "A trip to Sandas would be good for me too...though I have little money."

"As far as money goes, unless we collected some loot while I was dead just now, we have collected, in coins, gems, jewelry and one jeweled horn, a total of 83,997 gp since we last divided the money," says Equinox, reviewing his list. "We were 17 all together when we were fighting the slaads, etc. down below.  Divided by 17, each party member's share should be 4941 gp.  If we are going to share it with everyone here, then it would be a little less, I think."

Jon says, "Ummmhh aren't some people here henchmen and so don't get a share...as we discovered last time?"

Jon expectantly looks around and at his feet...

"I do not need to train, but if we are going to take a break to train, I would like to be returned to Sandas as well."

"If you need to train, I can loan you some money," Equinox says to Jon, "but as to dividing the money, I think that we divided the haul evenly with everyone last time."

"What happened in the battle after I fell?" asks Equinox of the rest of the party, "I remember falling unconscious after the slaad-thing toasted me.  What or who actually killed me?"

Ayazin gestures toward Jon. "It was him - not his fault, but the slaad made a psionic attack that enraged him, and Devlin as well. Devlin attacked you, then Jon attacked Devlin, and then after the fireball, Jon finished you off. But, he was not himself. In the future, though, this may prove to be a vulnerable spot for the slaadi -- I have similar abilities, though the slaad's power word prevented me from using them in this fight."

"What?" Equinox shouts, "I got killed by my own party member?"

"Hey Jon," says Equinox to his compatriot, "remember when I offered to loan you gold? That was BEFORE I realized that you had killed me 10 minutes earlier. I am sure that what you did was not your fault, and I will get over it, but I am not terribly happy with you at the moment.

"But you can make it up to me by buying me the best steak dinner in Sandas. Deal?" he asks and offers his hand to Jon.

"The way I look at it, I had a chance to be in Tyr's presences and we're alive again."

"How did we kill that last Slaad-thing and where was the key?"

Ayazin grins broadly. "Al saved the day again! After the fireball - let's see - Op Code was fighting the slaad solo, and Al stood up and started fighting again. Then the slaad cast a symbol, and everyone surrendered but Al, who killed the slaad on his own. We owe him our lives, and perhaps more than that. The key was on the person of the second slaad, I believe."

Al has no desire to return to Sandas.

Tully will go as well and find a guild or see if Jesse can train him. He will then enter training.

Mikodin realizes that he needs training, and will go to his temple in Sandas to submit for his next level, and undergo whatever tests may be required of him.

Sharone will travel to Sandas. Whilst not training she has other matters to attend to.

Aldarin says, "I also would like to head back to Sandas to train and take care of business."

Kithus will be going with the others to train.

"Hey Vardui, you were here when Jo-Owrn told me about Thor's Great Druid away East of here.  Have you ever been there or to the Grand Druid of Thor, away across the ocean somewhere?"

Vardui shakes his head. Twice.

In all, then, Jon, Tully, Mikodin, Sharone, Aldarin, Kithus and Beth teleport to Sandas the next morning.

Next day

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